We all know that we are in one of the worst economies since the early 80's. I'm not going to talk about how we got here, but how can we survive it. Just when we thought that job losses were slowing down, it was announced that jobless claims increased. If you have lost your job and even if you currently have one, there are two important things you need to continue to grow...Your skills and your social network.

Cheryl Palmer who is a certified executive career coach at Call To Career in Silver Spring, Md. says "Never take your career for granted. You should be constantly updating your skills and keeping your network viable. Too many people get too comfortable in their jobs and don't think about what may come next."

If you are in the technical field, you have hit the right spot.. developerWorks. Not only can you grow your skills using developerWorks resources, but you can grow your technical network using the developerWorks community. Check out "New to the Community".

Also, consider growing your skills by taking a tutorial , and watching a technical demo of products and technologies that may interest you.

All this may help you get certified on a product or technology that you can add to your resume.

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